How long do vegetarian proteins last?

Reviewed by the MyListResort team · Data from the USDA FoodKeeper · Updated July 30, 2026

This aisle splits in two. Tofu and miso are refrigerated foods with short windows once opened, while soy flour and textured soy protein are dry pantry goods that keep for months or years. The storage advice for one is wrong for the other, so read the window on the page you are on rather than the aisle as a whole.

What are common spoilage signs for vegetarian proteins?

• A sour or off smell rather than the mild, neutral one it had fresh.
• In miso: fuzzy or coloured mold on the surface, rather than the darkening and the strong salty smell it develops normally with age.
• A slimy or sticky surface.
• In dry soy products: a rancid or paint-like smell from the fat in the flour, clumping from damp, or any sign of pantry pests.

Storing vegetarian proteins

• Keep opened tofu submerged in fresh water in a sealed container and change the water daily.
• Miso is salted and fermented, so it keeps far longer than its texture suggests; it darkens and sharpens with age rather than spoiling on a schedule. Keep it sealed and cold and judge it by smell and surface, not by the calendar alone.
• Keep soy flour and textured soy protein airtight in a cool, dark cupboard. Full-fat soy flour carries enough oil to go rancid, so refrigerating it extends the window well past the pantry figure.
• Freeze what you will not use soon; tofu freezes well and changes to a chewier texture.

Vegetarian proteins shelf life, food by food

Tap a food for its once-opened window, full shelf-life table and storage tips.

• Miso
• Re-hydrated textured soy protein, (TSP)
• Soy flour, full-fat
• Textured soy protein, (TSP)
• Tofu

Shelf-life windows come from the USDA FoodKeeper, published by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (public domain); we vendor the FSIS FoodKeeper dataset and refresh it in place. These are quality estimates, not food-safety determinations or guarantees: actual condition depends on storage and handling, and harmful bacteria may not have obvious signs. Follow package and official guidance; when in doubt, throw it out. See our food safety notice and terms.